Most clubs are shamed by top scorers’ meagre totals

If defending has gone to pot as many pundits say it has, you wonder why so many Premier League clubs are struggling to field a topscorer with more than between three and six goals in 22 matches. Striker-deficiency-anxiety is the game’s oldest syndrome. Every summer, fans ask: “Where are our goals going to come from?” Owners and chief executives fear this scrutiny above any. The failure to sign someone guaranteed to “give you 15-20 goals a season” is a mark of shame they carry for the whole campaign.

Meanwhile, the cult of the finisher grows apace, with Harry Kane as the rebuke to clubs who have failed to spot and sign one of the lethal forwards who are supposedly dotted everywhere if you only cared to look.

Forgive the long list, but a scan of the leading scorers in each ch Premier League team tells a story about demand outstripping supply, poor recruitment and why so many any clubs are stalked by relegation ion with 16 games to go.

West Brom and Newcastle le bring up the rear, with three e goals each for Jay Rodriguez ez and Salomon Rondon ( WBA) A) and Dwight Gayle and Joselu lu (Newcastle), but they are not ot tailed off. Here are some others: Burnley: four (Chris s Wood); Crystal Palace: four (Luka Milivojevic and Wilfried ried Zaha); Swansea: four ( Tammy Abraham); Stoke: four (Mame Biram Diouf, Eric Maxim ChoupoMoting and Xherdan Shaqiri).

Moving up, slightly: Bournemouth: five (Callum Wilson); Huddersfield: five (Laurent Depoitre); West Ham: five (Marko Arnautovic); Southampton: six (Charlie Austin); Brighton: six (Glenn Murray); Watford: six (Abdoulaye Doucoure).

There are some surprises higher up the table. Arsenal’s top scorer is Alexandre Lacazette (pictured) with eight, and Romelu Lukaku leads the way for Manchester United with 10. Chelsea are also barely into double figures, with Alvaro Morata (10), who has lost his early- early-season season accuracy and zest.

Morata, Lu Lukaku and Lacazette Lacazett seem low on confidence, confid and United’s Unite reported interest inte in Jamie Vardy Va and Alexis S Sa Sanchez (the latter also indicates a political po motive – to thwart thw City) speaks of a need nee to inject speed into their th frontline.

Lukaku Luk started his new career ca at Old Trafford Traffor at high velocity but has since lost some of that pace, which had energised United’s attacking.

Elsewhere at the top, Pep Guardiola has transformed Raheem Sterling from a weak finisher into City’s most prolific (with 14), and a Chelsea discard, Mohamed Salah, leads the charts for Liverpool with 17.

Across the piece, though, the leading-scorer numbers suggest recruitment departments are misreading the evidence on strikers their data-analysis is throwing up – or that insufficient emphasis is being placed on that part of the team. Everton have just moved to correct a squad imbalance in this area by buying Cenk Tosun for £27 million and pursuing Theo Walcott.

Many middle-ranking clubs are probably telling themselves the sure-fire hotshots are out of range, financially, and that backing data-supported hunches is a better policy. Understandable, but if your top scorer after 22 games has four league goals, then you need a rethink. If Premier League defending is dreadful, somebody ought to tell the strikers who are failing to exploit those opportunities.